Lars Rambergs LIBERTÉ
About Liberté
The interactive sculpture «Liberté» made by the Norwegian artist Lars Ø Ramberg has recently been realised for the National Museum of Art in Oslo. After more than two years of fights and aggressive public debates, the artist has finally managed to present his controversial work: his installation is a permanent monument especially designed for the Norwegian celebration of 100 years as a free nation. A he calls it a statue of liberty.
JCDecaux has played a key role providing material for his concept, as well as acting as partner for the realization in Oslo. His interest was to connect the constitution to their innovative robotized toilets produced from 1980. JCDecaux supported the artist with three original V1 toilets from the streets of Paris. They were restored and painted in the colours red, white and blue with the inscriptions «Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité», and shipped to Norway.
Her Royal Highness Queen Sonja and the Minister of Culture Valgjerd Svarstad Haugland opened the official exhibition «Kiss the Frog» where Ramberg’s work was shown on the 27th of May in Oslo. More than half a million visitors are expected during the summer. (Total population of Norway: 4 million inhabitants).
The Concept
Lars Ramberg was in 2003 chosen to develop a national monument for the centennial in 2005, intentionally to be placed outside the Eidsvoll castle.
The intention was to create a sculpture, relating to the People, and the Nation, connecting history with new perspectives. Instead of only confirming retro values, it was to open up people’s minds and make them reflect on national identity in general. The piece intended to allow connotations such as: who are the People today? Who are they and where are they? What is public and what is private?
In relation to Norwegian history, to European nation building and to a global contemporary discourse addressing national and political identity, the artist developed a concept based on the French as a provider for both the highest and the lowest institution for society: the democratic constitution and the democratic invention of public toilets.
Research was made in Oslo and Paris, searching for both symbols and true collective values. In the streets of Paris, there exists an interesting house made for only one person. It was a narrow concrete house - the original Version One, which made its own revolution in the 1980s. The first robotized toilet in the world! This was of course a French innovation, just like modern democracy itself.
Connected to the history of the legendary Norwegian outdoor toilet from the WWII, this would be a national monument and a toilet at the same time. Referring to Norway as well as France, to constitution as well as the private individual. The freestanding toilets are the smallest cells of public architecture, representing the smallest cell of the people. It offers privacy physically as well as psychologically, yet it is in public. Slightly manipulated and restyled, it supports the idea of individual freedom, physical hygiene and national identity, as a new statue of liberty for both countries.
Back in 1886, the French sculptor Bartholdi interpreted the French Liberté and created the Statue of Liberty for New York in USA, referring to the ties between the two countries. Lars Ramberg’s version is catching up with a contemporary discourse, asking where our values come from and where they are heading. Like the Statue of Liberty, which was given by France, the JCDecaux toilets were the perfect «gift» from France for the Norwegian anniversary. The artwork «Liberté» is therefore based on historical events, subjectively analysed and filtered.
Rejection
After a closed competition in 2003, a professional jury awarded Lars Ramberg the prize for the best concept. However, the constitutional museum found it too confronting and rejected the realisation due to its function as toilets. The intention to place it outside Eidsvoll Castle was given up.
As a reaction some members of the professional jury resigned in protest and the story about it began appearing as a scandal in national and international news. One American magazine reported «What does a young nation like Norway do when celebrating its 100 years of freedom, it sensors its own Statue of Liberty?»
Simply by generating public debate, it had already become a monument addressing, national identity and responsibility.
Liberté – the sculpture
The new director of the National Museum, Sune Nordgren, had followed the debate and invited the piece as a part of the official celebration. Some populist journalists were critical: how can the National Museum buy a «Norwegian flag you can shit on?»
The Norwegian Queen opened it the 27th of May in Oslo, as a part of the exhibition «Kiss the Frog» with the culture minister and the French ambassador present. The actual piece was so beautifully made, that all critics were stunned. With its brilliant design from 1979, now in the French /Norwegian colours, hundreds were soon queuing to try them out!
Inside the toilets, three different radio programs present recordings of historical speeches by Charles De Gaulle, King Haakon VII and Franklin Roosevelt, on the subject of freedom and liberty.
Inside the museum, with a view over the toilets from above, an «Anchor» is installed. A plasma screen displays entry statistics shown as three columns in blue, white and red, appearing as Liberté in 3D graphics, monitoring every flush. By discriminating between Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité, the users activity is updated on the plasma screen. The three columns show the users’ preferences, therefore connecting to the values of the constitution.
"People" and people
Liberté states a subversive criticism of Norwegian patriotism, its lack of historical consciousness regarding its references. Instead of focusing on the «People», as a politically constructed homogenous group, Liberté focuses on the people today as a heterogeneous group consisting of private individuals, acting freely in public space.
The installation allows an intimate relationship with its audience; in fact the visitors fulfil the work, performing inside it. Instead of illustrating the people’s freedom, Ramberg allows the individual to interact, and finally to reflect on his/her political identity, as part of the collective body.
Text: Lars Ramberg